I recently encountered the term NFC payments. I was familiar with the concept, though not the term. “Near field communications” refers to the technology that allows a mobile device to communicate with, for example, a vending machine to perform payment and make a purchase.
The mobile device has a link to an account and a wireless connection with the vendor. The device is the middle-man in the transaction.
It is interesting to me because it shows the growing ease of transactions. Because mobile devices are quickly becoming a common means of digesting content, like news stories, they unify consumption and payment in one place.
It may not take that form, but it is not hard to see how the smart-phone/handheld-computer could become the link between the account and the pay-per-view content, and thence the link between news publishers and much-needed revenue.
One of the challenges of any micropayment for news scheme is creating a system that is widely adopted. A generalized payment device for transactions of all kinds eliminates that barrier. Its development could also drive down transaction costs.
Once there is a way to pay for news, you can bet publishers will jump at the chance to charge for it. Right now we are the era of Napster for news and some day soon we will enter the era of iTunes for news.
- Isaacson advocates reader micropayments for news in Time Working Title project blog 18 Feb 2009